Mission to Earth
by TheUnbrokenDreamer
Summary: I don't own Invader Zim, Jhonen Vasquez does. But I do own the characters Dakama and Aris. Nightmare Irkens are just Irkens from the Nightmare Dimension in Dib's head, just if your wondering.
1. Chapter 1

I walked through the Great Hall, staring at the several specimens locked in the containers, straining to survive. The Resisty were _trying_ to rehabilitate the lost species killed by the Irken empire, but were failing miserably. My own civilization was dying off, due to a recent run in with them. It was a horrible war, but our people decided to join the Resisty rather than to fight them off. Why did they do it so late, though? I ran into someone while I was deep in thought. I looked down.

"Oh, hi, Lard Nar."  
"Hello."  
"Soo, how's it going?" I said slowly, obviously sensing the awkwardness in the air. Lard Nar growled.  
"I did not come here to have a chummy conversation with you. I have come here to tell you that you've been assigned to a mission."  
"A mission?" I squeaked excitedly. He sighed.  
"Yes," he said while rubbing his temples, obviously in a bad mood. "You've been assigned to go to Earth."  
"Earth?" I complained. My antennas drooped. I did not want to go the same planet as the Irken Empire's biggest idiot, even if he is a help to our cause.  
"Yes Earth! Now don't complain. This is a mandatory mission."  
"I want something out of it," I said, pouting. He sighed again, this time more exaggeratedly.  
"Fine, but _after_the mission. You got that!" Lard Nar snarled. Man was he pissy. Before he walked away, I said something.  
"Now you owe me two favors." I couldn't see him, but I could hear him pause.  
"_Two favors?_What on Vort are you talking about?" he said suspiciously. I turned slightly, smirking.  
"Don't you remember? You killed my boyfriend." I turned again, and walked away. I couldn't see his face, but I knew what expression he was wearing.  
Dumbfounded.

I pressed my back against my seat, shoving my foot into my combat boots. It seems they have shrunk. After a few minutes of struggle, my foot finally snugged into place. Now the other foot. I sighed; this was the worst mission I ever had, even worse than going to Blorch. Ten times worse than going to Blorch. The mission was to convince Zim that the Armada was coming and he was to go back to Irk to prepare for the invasion. This would allow him to destroy Irk through his own stupidity. My hologram disguiser snapped onto my forehead. It projected a hologram of an Irken. I didn't think I needed , but I knew Zim wouldn't believe me if I told him I was Irken. My skin's naturally a cool grey, and my eyes are bright yellow, an obvious sign of Nightmare Irken. I twirled around to make sure every speck of me looked Irken. After nodding my head with pride, I glanced over to the doorway. "My, my. Don't you look pretty." I cursed under my breath. _What was this jerk doing here?_  
"What are _you_ doing here, Aris?" I said, scowling. His wicked grin made me want to punch it off his face. He wagged his finger at me.  
"Now, now my little Dakama," his tone was demeaning, as though he was speaking to a smeet, " don't frown. That'll ruin your cute little face."  
"Just get to the point!" I roared. Aris crossed his arms, cocking his head to the side.  
"I'm just getting to that. Jeez, don't get your panties in a wad." He paused, smiling even more roguishly. "I'm coming with you to Earth. Aren't you excited?"

Several guards had to pin me down to stop me from knocking any more trash cans. They dragged to the council, their heavy boots clotted along the ground. People whispered as I was carried across the hall, screaming and kicking along the way. We came to two large doors, decorated with blue swirls of light. It was nauseating. The guards threw me in the council with not even an air of politeness. The Council drew their gaze to me as I hit the ground with a heavy thud.  
"WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA?" I howled. Lard Nar sighed.  
"Oh no, not you again." He ran his hands along his horns in an annoyed manner. That man seemed to be in a bad mood at all times.  
"Child, calm down," said Ixane with a soft, hypnotic voice. Shloonktapooxis started blabbering on about pirate monkeys.  
" I WILL NOT CALM DOWN! WHAT DID YOU SEND ARIS TO DO THE MISSION WITH ME?" Ixane drew in a long deep breath and strolled towards me.  
"Dakama, you know you have depression-" I cut her off.  
"What of it?" I said, gritting my teeth.  
"We sent Aris to make sure," she paused, "You don't kill yourself." My eyes widened, realizing the point of the Council's decision. But I didn't want to stop know, I was still too angry and enraged.  
"BUT WHY ARIS?" Ixane chuckled awkwardly, and looked over to Lard Nar for assistance.  
"Because other Resisty members were too afraid you'd kill _them_," Lard Nar said wryly. I glared at him, but he remained unaffected. He knew I could do nothing to him. Lard Nar raised an eye brow. "What are you looking at? Why don't you leave, already. You've got your information. Go!" I spat on the floor and strided out the door. Jerk.

I walked down the crowded hallways, hunching. Aris spotted me and pulled me bye the antennae. "So, I heard about your little outburst in the Council's room." I eyed him coldly.  
"Who told you that?" I snapped. He chuckled wickedly.  
All he said was,"A little birdie told me." I sneered at him.  
"It was Lard Nar, wasn't it?"  
"Man, that man hates you! What did you do to make him so pissed at you?"  
"I have no idea! Maybe I killed one of his friends in the war." I shrugged. For some reason, Lard Nar always seems to get a headache when I'm around. Aris wrapped his arms around my shoulder. I removed his hand with a hard smack. Aris winced slightly.  
"Can you believe we're heading to Earth tomorrow?" I groaned. This was going to be a long trip.

The trip to Earth was not as annoying as I thought. Aris was generally quiet, only making an occasional comment. The only thing wrong is that Aris did not let me drive the ship. He said that I might have a "mental breakdown" at any given moment. The entire time, I just gazed at the stars. I did glance at Aris once in a while. When he was in pilot mode, he was stern, his eyes focused, and his shoulders tensed. I would admire how talented and serious he was. But when he found me staring at him, he would make a stupid comment that would make me forget what I was thinking before.  
When we arrived on Earth, Aris maneuvered seamlessly through the atmosphere, making sure not to come in too fast. We landed quietly; making sure no one would notice the ship. I turned on the hologram projector so the ship would look like an Earth automobile. Then, Aris and I turned on our own holograms. Aris' disguise consisted of a curly mess of red hair, bright blue eyes, a white tank top with a plaid shirt on top, torn skinny jeans, and beat up converse. I actually found him _attractive_.  
"Looking good," I said playfully. He winked at me.  
"Not bad yourself." I had short, raven hair, an emo tear covering my right eye, blood red eyes, a radiant green sweater with the Irken Insignia on the front and two blue stripes a the arms, denim mini shorts with black and green striped leggings, and indigo combat boots. Aris eyed me a little, which made me feel uncomfortable, but I reassured myself that he was only making sure my outfit was believable.  
We stood in front of a narrow, green house, decorated with several tacky looking lawn gnomes and pink flamingos. It was obviously Zim's house since it stood out the most out of the neighborhood.  
"Man, he is one stupid piece of trash, now isn't he?" Aris said blatantly. We strolled towards the house. Once we stepped into the yard, the gnomes began to fire lasers at us. Despite this, they were easy to avoid since their aim wasn't very accurate _or_ long ranged. As soon as we stepped onto the doorway, Aris kicked in the door. The house only had two rooms, a kitchen and a living room. A small, green dog with a large zipper on the front had its nubby black hand buried in a bag of chips. It seemed to be SIR unit. He was a _poorly disguised_ SIR unit, as a matter fact. It seemed to ignore the fact that there were intruders in its master's base. _It's probably a defective, _I thought.  
I leaned towards the SIR, "Where is your master?" The SIR unit looked at me and grinned. Sticky, black goo stuck onto her teeth.  
"He's out! Wants some CHEESE?" said the little SIR unit. His voice was off key, heightening and dropping in pitch. I face palmed.  
"Aris, he's not home." Aris had an unreadable expression. Either he was happy we were staying for a little longer, or he's mad that we wasted six months of space travel. Then he smiled, wrapping his arms around my waist.  
"Wanna have some fun?" He said, whispering into where my ear should be. I shivered as his hot breath hit my neck.  
"What do you mean?" I said suspiciously.  
"Let's wait for the fourth of July to go home. I want to explore the culture."  
"Oh," I said disappointingly. Aris produced a wicked smile.  
"What do you think I meant?" I removed his arms from my waist and turned my back on him.  
"N-Nothing!" Aris laughed.


	2. Chapter 2

The so called holiday, "American Independence Day", was a complete misadventure. To start off, it seemed that no one seemed to be working. The neighborhood was swarming with people and gossip. And if the air wasn't filled with rumors, smoke took its place. I guess another tradition of the humans was to barbecue their revolting meat all at the same time. And to top it all off, once the fireworks set off, I went into full blown panic mode. My PTSD kicked into gear causing me to scream and run around, flailing my arms. It took Aris about forty-five minutes to get me to calm down. I did, eventually, quite down, slowly rocking back and forth in a fetal position. No wonder Zim was gone the entire day. It was ihorrible/i.

After the so called "holiday", we expected Zim to return, but he didn't. In fact, he didn't come home for several weeks. Aris and I became very wary of his disappearance. Without Zim, his house was very vulnerable. In effect, his house has been attacked by a large headed child to giant rodent (to whom I suspect is the same creature). This made me very frustrated. Why wasn't he here? Did he commit a wrongdoing and had to avoid the law? Or even worse-

"Aris, I think he knows!" I said nervously. Aris became pale, and began to pace around the yard in a frantic manner.

"No, he couldn't, could he? How would he find out?" several questions like these flew out of his mouth. The more he questioned the situation, the more uptight his pace became. At first, I tried to calm in down as gently as I could. I didn't want put him into shock. But after that botched, I decided to do it imy way/i. Clenching my fist, I punched him in his squeedly spooch. I wasn't the strongest Nightmare Irken, but the hit was enough to snap him out of his panicky state. "Oww, what was that for?" he groaned as he rubbed his gut.

"Because, you were acting like an idiot. We need to stay calm."

"Says the girl that was screaming because a couple fireworks set off."

"Shut up Aris. You know how bad my trauma is. It's not funny," I said glowering. Aris broke out in laughter.

"You're so cute when you pout. You probably think it gives you some kind of respect, but it only makes you look even more juvenile than you already are." I turned away from him. Why was he such an idiot?! "Okay, okay. I'm sorry. You don't have to get all huffy puffy about. I was just kidding, sort of."

"You're apologizes are insincere, and thus, not forgiven. Right now, we need to focus on the mission. The main goal now is to find out where Zim is and if he knows about our arrival. YOU GOT THAT?!" Aris waved his hand at me.

"Yeah, yeah. I got it," he said mockingly. We decided to enter the house once more. The SIR unit didn't seem do much other than eat, so investigating the house would be easy.

"You know something, why didn't we do this earlier?" I asked while looking under the couch. Aris shrugged.

"Most likely we were paranoid that Zim was in the house. Or, maybe it never occurred to us…I feel kind of stupid now," Aris responded with a slight hint of humiliation. I felt a little foolish, too. It's been a month or so, and all we did in that time was play video games inside the ship, I mean car. Even the rational, levelheaded Ixane was irritated with our imprudence.

"Ah ha! Hey Aris, can you help me lift this couch?" I said enthusiastically. Aris walked to the couch.

"Huh, why?"

"I think I found something."

"What makes you say that?" I smiled as we moved the couch.

"That giant hole in the floor makes me say that," I said, gleaming with pride. I was the first one to find something, not Aris. We leaped into the hole, not even thinking of the consequences. Luckily, it was only an elevator.

"I think this leads to his base."

"What if he's hiding there?" I whispered agitatedly. Aris shot a glance at me, and small crack of smile spread across his face. "What's so funny?!" I growled crossly. Aris started snickering.

"Paranoid, feisty, iand/i cute. What more can I ask for?" he said impishly, wrapping his arms around me. I squinted at Aris and shoved him off me. "Yep, feisty."

"Shut up, doofus." I crossed my arms, and waited for the elevator to stop. The doors opened to a secret, underground base. The base was much larger than the upper part of the house. With that, it even had Irken technology stamped all over it. Wires and encrypted patterns traced over the walls and floor. Several specimens were locked into containers filled with some kind of liquid. It reminded me of the Resisty ship's rehabilitation hall, but Zim was probably doing experiments just for ihis/i mission. One specimen caught my eye. It was a redheaded boy, with a large drill-like probe infused into his head, and an overly enthusiastic smile on his face. I peered at him. "Tell me boy, what makes you so happy looking?" The young child's expression didn't change, and his smile grew.

"Because of this probe in my skull. It makes me so bhappy/b."

"I see. And what if I were to take it out," I asked.

"I don't think you'd be able to do that, which makes me so happy."

"Why not?" The boy closed his eyes.

"The boy who made me so happy is behind you." I snapped my head back. There was Zim. I looked around to find Aris, but he was nowhere to be found.

"I've been waiting for you two for a while. You're probably wondering where you're little friend, ihuman/i. Well, he's tied up in the level below us." iThere's another level?!/i, I thought. "How did you get in? I'm surprised you didn't set off my computer." I stared at him blankly. We just walked in, it was that simple. I wanted to say that, but my mouth was so twisted in a knot, that it took me a while to untangle it.

"We just walked in and just happened to find an elevator under the couch."

"YOU LIE!" he screamed.

"No, I'm telling the truth. And the truth is, I'm Irken, just like you." I turned on my hologram to the Irken setting. Zim looked at me with great thought, scratching his chin.

"There's only one way to prove that. Computer, scan the female!" he ordered. A camera like machine came up to me and shot a bright pink light at me. "Analyzes."

"She does seem to have Irken DNA, but-"

"Enough with butts for you!" Zim snapped. Zim turned to me and bowed his head. "Welcome to Earth fellow Irken. What brings you to my base?" I stood there, my head vacantly, until I remembered what I was supposed to tell him.

"Oh, um. I have been sent by the Tallest on orders that you should go back to Irk to prepare for the Invasion of Earth."

"Sorry, I must refuse."

"What?!"

"The Earth is not ready to conquer. It's not that I don't want to go back to our home planet, but if the Tallest come too soon, the Dib-head might get in the way." I would've argued with him, but I felt that he proved his point and that it was no use. I headed to elevator, and remembered Aris.

"Can you release my partner?"

"Certainly!" he said, saluting me. I saluted at him as well and waited for Aris to recover from be thrown from a vacuum. As we walked out of the house, Aris rubbed the back of his neck.

"Ugh. It was cramped down there. So, did you tell him "his" new mission?"

"Yes."

"And?"

"iWell/i," I stretched.

"Well what?!"

"He said that the planet was not ready for conquest because of something called a Dib-head."

"I see, so we have to stay a little longer."

"Yeah. We should report to Lard Nar," I said. I was not looking forward to giving him the bad news. It would probably just make him even more infuriated at me than usual.

"What's with you? Afraid big, I mean little, old Lard Nar is going to yell at you?" Aris said with a belittling tone. I glowered at him.

"Shut your trap."


	3. Chapter 3

_ The landscape was stark black and white, dead bodies covering the ground. The smell of acrid smoke and blood filled the air. I coughed dryly as putrid air cut into my lungs. I didn't know where I was. It was obvious that some kind of battle had just occurred, but why was I there? I looked around, and nothing seemed familiar. It's as if I'd been been suck from a dreamy reality into a cold nightmare.  
Suddenly, I felt a heavy burden on my arms. It was a boy with a familiar smile. His eyes were icy blue, a piercing color against his dark grey skin. He had several bruises, rips on his uniform, and a long gash along his core. Despite being in such bad shape, the boy carried a grin, a sad, lifeless grin. I sympathized for the poor boy since I felt no pain, even though I was somehow put in this retched place. Or so I thought. I felt warm liquid trickle down my face. The battered boy wiped the tears from my eyes. "Don't cry," said the boy in a kind, but lonely voice. My heart screamed in my chest, despite the fact that I didn't know who the boy was.  
"Elij?" I whispered in a heavy voice.  
"Yes, Dakama, Elij. I don't want you to cry. It makes me sad." He closed his eyes and opened them again. I could feel my heart crack more and more as I stared deeper into his azure eyes. I rubbed away my tears.  
"Don't die, then I won't cry," I said, shaking, trying to comprehend what was going on. My heart began to crumble away more and more.  
"I'm sorry, I can't do that." He frowned for a second and then his sad smile crept back onto his face. He reached up to kiss me. His lips brushed softly against mine before he fell back. Elij became quite. I shook his cold body vigorously.  
"Wake up!" I screamed repeatedly. He did not wake up. Sobbing, I clutched his head against my chest. I wanted to show him the sound of my dying heart.  
I shrieked a curse to the sky as my heart shattered. _  
I snapped up from my slumber, cold and sweating. Aris was next to me, with an unreadable expression. Not even his eyes showed a hint of emotion. His mouth was a tight, straight, as though someone drew it on with a ruler. I held onto his shoulder so that I could prop myself into a sitting position. His shoulder was a stone.  
"You were having those dreams again, weren't you?" Aris said with a droning tone. He began to pet my cheek gingerly.  
"Dreams are filled with whimsical adventures and fantasy. What I have is nightmares filled with distorted memories and death," I said in a rather melancholy matter. Aris didn't give me a rude comment, as he normally did.  
"That was little morbid don't you think?"  
I shrugged, "I'm just stating the truth." Aris sighed. I didn't want to speak about my recurring nightmares, but Aris pursued the subject.  
"What part of the nightmare do you remember?" I grimaced. I didn't want to remember, but I did, I always did. I didn't respond for a very long time. Aris began to get irritated. "Well?" My eyes wandered away to ceiling.  
"I don't remember." I pouted like a spoiled smeet, hoping that it would distract Aris. But Aris didn't budge. He seized my face and pulled it close to his. Our eyes met directly.  
"Tell me the truth!" he said harshly. I pushed him away. Tears trickled down my cheeks. I didn't want to remember the dream. Aris frowned. He wiped the tears from my eyes. _Just like he did_.  
"Don't cry," he said, _just like he did_. I screamed, pushing Aris' face away. He fell back on the floor.  
"DON'T SAY THOSE WORDS! Don't every say those words." Aris' emotionless face faded into a mix of anger and sorrow. He had a face of defeat, clenching his fists and gritting his teeth. Aris pounded at the floor with his fists, repeatedly growling, "Darn it." Before I could say anything else, Aris stormed out of the ship, I mean car. I pulled the covers over my head.  
We didn't speak for a long time after that.

Today, we were heading back to Resisty headquarters. The mission was a bust. A big horrible bust. I could imagine the scolding I would get from Lard Nar, but, it didn't seem to matter to me. My main worry was of Aris. He still wasn't talking. And even if I tried to reconcile with him, he would turn away and tell me that he's busy.  
How _ironic_.  
For so long, I did my best to avoid him, to keep _him_ away...And now, he's doing it to me. I understand how he felt. To be ignored and hated by the one you care for. Behind that conceited face of his, I understand now, was a young man, yearning for love. And that was his only way. Even, now, my feelings for him are jumbled. Confused in a web of lies.  
Do _I_ really know Aris?  
My eyes were kept on him the entire trip. The entire trip, he held a stern, stone face, like he usually had...But this time, he no longer made his wise-cracking remarks.  
My thoughts of depression grew.  
And now  
My thoughts of living were depleting.

We had arrived, and like I predicted, I was chastised by Lard Nar. This time, however, I didn't become pouty, or argumentative like I normally would get. And I'm sure he sensed it.  
"What's the matter with you?" Lard Nar inquired, having a peculiar look on his face. I shrugged.  
"Nothing." I don't think that cut it. He pulled me down to his eye-level.  
"Tell me the truth."  
"I said nothing." Fire began to grow in the pit of my squeedly spooch. Lard Nar asked again.  
"What's wrong with you?!"  
I unleashed my flame.  
Taking him by the horns, I threw Lard Nar as hard as could against the council wall. Lard Nar was stunned, no emotion. Taking several deep breaths, the fire died. I looked at my shaking hands, and bowed my head.  
"I told you, nothing," I said in low, gruff voice, walking out of the council room.  
I dragged myself through the halls, eyes low, body tossed around by the overflowing members. I was suffocating, and with the short of breath, collapsed on the floor.  
I woke up. Stiff, white sheets, on a rock-hard bed. Rolling my head for a few seconds, I got up. The room I was in looked like prison. It was dimly lit, with a grey atmosphere. Rubbing my eye-lids, I inferred,"Have I been arrested."

A familiar voice called out,"For me it isn't." The voice walked into the cell-like dorm. "It's my room." It was Aris, a fluffy, white towel wrapped around his neck.

My muscles felt stiff from the bedding, and I yawned. "You sleep on this brick?" Aris chuckled.

"Yeah, I do." He climbed into the bed, patting down the sheets.

"What happened?" Aris shifted closer to me.

"You got trapped in the hall and passed out. Nothing serious."

"Oh," I said blatantly. Aris held his normal expression, again, but his eyes were directed to the wall. I noticed he was shirtless, and I took a good, long look. Aris was well-built, with several scars along his arms. Most likely from the war. Unconsciously, my hand reached out. I began to pet his arm, tracing along his scars and scratches. He turned his head slightly to my face. I couldn't stop looking at his scars, stuck in a strange trance. It was eventually broken by Aris who gave my not a snarky remark, but something I never imagined him to say:

"I love you."

I knew he had some flirtatious deal with me, but I never actually thought he loved me. No response. I had nothing to say. I never knew how I felt about Aris. I always thought I hated him, but now, I just had pure confusion. It was almost like

I was incapable of expressing love. And all because of Elij.

Maybe I did love Aris, but, how was I to respond. And instead of confessing my "undying feelings" to him, I gave him the most stupid, dumbfounded expression that could make Zim look smart. And then, without warning, Aris dove in, and kissed me. And that is when, my feelings for him unraveled. I began to cry.

Sweet tears of joy trickled down my face as I wrapped my arms around his neck. Returning the kiss. He pulled back, releasing the kiss.

"So?"

"So what?" I asked, while I wiped the tears from my eyes.

"Do you love me, too?" I gave him an expression as though I was in deep thought. "Well?"

I then genuinely pondered over the question. I don't know if I truly loved him. "Maybe."

"Really?" Aris said, annoyed. I shrugged, and nuzzled my non-existent nose towards his.

"Fine, I love you, even if you are a big, conceited, cocky, jerk."


End file.
